Decorations register · Notice Nearby
No rights-safe contemporary likeness is on file. The record is the decoration and the writing, not an invented face.
Neil Ellis Bateman
1947–1967
Private First Class
Company B, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
Documented decorations
Purple Heart
Named in VA article as posthumously awarded with Bronze Star Medal (Merit).
Public sources
Bronze Star Medal
Merit (VA wording: Bronze Star Medal (Merit))
VA states posthumous Bronze Star Medal (Merit). Do not invent a Combat “V” the VA label does not use.
Public sources
Silver Star
VA narrative and Hall of Valor publish the posthumous Silver Star for gallantry as point man on 15 May 1967 (Task Force Oregon GO No. 41).
Public sources
Neil Ellis Bateman’s Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, and Purple Heart are named in a Veterans Affairs remembrance published for his hometown and in the published Silver Star citation held by the Military Times Hall of Valor. The VA article states that he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal (Merit) and Purple Heart in addition to the Silver Star earned as point man for Company B, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry. This page records those three. It will not invent a Combat “V” on the Bronze Star when the VA labels it Merit.
The Silver Star citation — Task Force Oregon General Orders No. 41, June 24, 1967 — covers the trail fight near Duc Pho on May 15, 1967: the charge to forty meters, the stand that drew fire so wounded men could be pulled back, and the machine-gun fire that killed him after his platoon withdrew. That citation is the public record of gallantry. The Purple Heart is the published mark of the wound that ended it.
He is not yet on a Vietnam war-roll essay. A Maryvale High School memorial award in his name is community memory. It is not a U.S. decoration, and it is not printed here as one.
This name is not yet on a war-roll essay. The decorations above are the documented public record this register will stand on until that essay is written.
A publisher register — not a verification
This decorations register is publisher-curated from public records — Medal of Honor Society citations, published general orders, and official Army, Navy, and Marine Corps biographies. It is not a verified-veteran product. Notice Nearby does not certify service and does not issue badges.
A paid or unpaid memorial does not enroll anyone here. Checkout, VET50, and a family’s mention of service on an obituary are not applications to this list. We add a name only when a public official source names the decoration.
Claiming a decoration that was not awarded is stolen valor. It is a disrespect to those who earned the medal and, in some cases, a federal crime. This register will not invent an award to fill a page.
These pages are a historical register. They are not Legal Publication, not a newspaper notice, and not proof that a statute was satisfied.